Cranberry Orange Scones with Pistachios

December 21, 2015

Simple, tender, and flakey cranberry orange scones just like your favorite bakeries studded with cranberries and pistachios. These scones are just like Starbucks but so much better. The warm citrus glaze on top ties the whole thing together.

Cranberry orange scones. They were my favorite until I tossed in a handful of chopped pistachios and swapped the vanilla glaze for a more citrusy version. I’m never eating regular cranberry scones ever again. This is the way to go.

But before we get to the scones, how was your weekend? Did you brave the malls, go to any great holiday parties, did you go to the ballet? It was my birthday weekend so we spent it with some friends. I saw the new Star Wars movie on Saturday. Have you seen it yet? I like Star Wars, but i’m not a huge fan or anything. But I gotta say, it was a really good movie. Without going into anything (because spoilers are terrible) I thought the movie was funny, entertaining, and the story was super interesting. I’m excited to see more!

Sunday, Anees surprised me with brunch reservations to a beautiful steakhouse on the bayou. They seriously had the best crab cake Benedict i’ve ever had. Complete with a delectable hollandaise that had a very distinct tarragon flavor. I cannot wait to recreate something like that at home. OMG. I’m seriously still obsessing over it 24 hours later.

So let’s get back to Christmas breakfast. On Friday, I shared a piece of my heart. It is the most delicious french toast casserole you’ll ever have. We enjoyed it for breakfast a few times and it seriously to die for. This is somehow becoming a breakfast blog because I just cannot get enough comfort food at the moment.

And next up, are these scones. As I mentioned before, our besties and ex-neighbors moved into their first home this past week. I packed up some of these scones along with the french toast casserole and took it over for them to enjoy. And both were a hit! Fariha said the scones were tender and flakey and the orange zest adds such nice brightness while the pistachios provide a little nuttiness and crunch.

I have to admit these cranberry orange scones are D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S. With the intention of only tasting, I look down to see a whole scone missing. But I made 8. How are there only 7 left? Is there a Scone Monster living in my house? Um. Yeah there is, and it happens to be me.

I sprinkled mine with white sparkling sugar but turbinado sugar will work the same. The little glimmer from the sugar make them extra fancy, CRUNCHY on top, and perfectly sparkly for this time of the year. I packed them up and got them out of the house as quickly as I could because these would not have lasted 2 days around here.

Cranberry orange scones with a warm vanilla latte or even a regular cup of coffee.

I can taste it already.

Cranberry Orange Scones with Pistachios

Author: Little Spice Jar

Prep time: 25 mins

Cook time: 20 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 8 scones

Simple, tender, and flakey cranberry orange scones just like your favorite bakeries studded with cranberries and pistachios. These scones are just the Starbucks but so much better. The warm citrus glaze on top ties the whole thing together.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

½ cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon orange zest

½ cup butter, frozen + grated*

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup + 2 tablespoons heavy cream, divided

¼ cup sour cream

½ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped pistachios

sparkling or turbinado sugar, for sprinkling on tops

GLAZE:

1 cup confectioners sugar

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons orange juice

Instructions

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400ºF. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet, set aside.

Place the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange zest in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (you can also do this in a regular bowl with an electric mixer). Stir to combine.

Add the butter and mix the ingredients on the low setting until the butter incorporates with the flour. Let the mixer run on the low setting while you drizzle in each of the following ingredients separately, vanilla extract, egg, heavy cream, and sour cream. Fold the cranberries and pistachios into the dough until combined.

Flour your work surface and your hands before removing the dough from the mixing bowl. Work the dough into a neat 10 inch circle. Cut into 8 equal pieces using a sharp knife or a dough scraper. Place the scones 1 ½ – 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Brush with the remaining 2 tablespoons of heavy cream and sprinkle with sparkling sugar if desired.

Bake the scones for 19-22 minutes or until lightly golden and cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for several minutes. You can make the glaze while they cool. Combine the confections sugar, vanilla and 2 tablespoons of the orange juice in a bowl and mix until smooth. If the glaze is too thick, you can drizzle in the remaining tablespoon of orange juice, 1 teaspoon at a time to help thin it out (3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon). Drizzle glaze over the scones and top with additional sparkling sugar if desired.[br][br]Scones are best enjoyed the day they are made but will keep in an air-tight container for 1-2 additional days.

2 comments on “Cranberry Orange Scones with Pistachios”

I’ve been looking over and saving some of your recipes on Pinterest. I love the way you put things together. I was wondering if you have an opinion on using Whole Wheat flour in your baking recipes? I’m a Diabetic and need to
limit my intake of white flour. Your bread and cookies look so good, I’d hate to miss out. Thanks and I’ll follow your creations from now on.

Hi Mike! Thanks for following the blog 🙂 I think whole wheat flour is great to use in a lot of recipes and it works particularly well in muffins or bread. I usually do a split of WW and AP in quite a few of my baking recipes as I find that the combination of the two usually yields better results than using all of one or the other. It’s easier to use WW flour in recipes that have more moisture. It can be a bit more challenging to do when you’re making things like cookies as there isn’t much liquid in those recipes, to begin with. If you’d like to sub WW flour in any of the cookie recipes, I’d suggest doing so in smaller quantities. For example, if the recipe calls for 2 cups of flour, I’d replace 1/2 cup with WW in the first batch and then adjusting from there. I hope that helps and thank you again for the follow!